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Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, also referred to as Halo: Anniversary, or Halo: CEA, is a first-person shooter video game set in the Halo universe and is an enhanced remake of Halo Combat Evolved. Microsoft announced the game alongside Halo 4 at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo. The game reached gold status on October 15, 2011, and was released a month later, on November 15, 2011, the 10th anniversary of the original title's launch. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is the first game in the Halo series to be developed by 343 Industries. The game features several updates to the original title, including a complete visual overhaul, support for cooperative and multiplayer gameplay on the Xbox Live online service, remakes of several multiplayer maps from previous Halo games, and extras that do not affect gameplay such as achievements, terminals, and other hidden easter eggs. The original game engine was replaced by the Saber3d engine in campaign mode and the Halo: Reach engine in multiplayer. The game is the first in the series to include Kinect support. Gameplay Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary's gameplay is nearly identical to the original Halo: Combat Evolved, with the addition of new features. Players can freely switch from playing the game with the original "classic" graphics or new graphics by pressing a button; the original game's visuals are presented in high-definition, 16:9 widescreen as opposed to the original game's 480i, 4:3 resolution and aspect ratio. Additions to the gameplay include Xbox Live achievements, online cooperative gameplay, and hidden content; these include "terminals" that provide new backstory, and skulls that modify gameplay. The Anniversary edition also has subtitles available for in-game and combat dialogue. A new feature to this integration is the Library. When the command analyze is given, specific characters, vehicles and objects can be scanned and an index for detailed information on them is made available. The remastered graphics are also available in 3D for 3D televisions. The original Combat Evolved did not have multiplayer except for local area networking via System Link. Anniversary allows two players to play through the campaign cooperatively on the same console or via Xbox Live. The game's multiplayer mode uses Halo: Reach's engine, and features seven maps. Six of the maps are remakes of Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 maps. Seven of the available maps have been updated and re-released using Halo: Reach's engine. Six of these maps are competitive multiplayer maps that are remakes from Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2. Each map has two variants, classic and enhanced. Anniversary also ships with a Firefight map, where players fight against waves of enemies with the assistance of friendly non-player characters or human players. The setting of the Firefight map is taken from a Combat Evolved campaign level. Development Bungie developed the original Halo: Combat Evolved as a 2001 launch title for the Xbox console after Microsoft purchased the company in 2000. Bungie and Microsoft split in 2007, but the rights to Halo remained with the latter, which formed an internal division to oversee Halo franchise development. 343 Industries, the internal division, approached Saber Interactive with a proposal to remake Combat Evolved for the game's tenth anniversary. Saber's Chief Operating Officer Andrey Jones recalled that the offer was "an opportunity we not miss", as Saber had never before worked on a major game franchise and many team members were fans of Halo. Saber developed concept art to develop visual ideas for the remake and then flew to Seattle, Washington to meet with 343 Industries (343i). 343i wanted a complete remake of the original game by November 11, the date of Combat Evolved's release, giving Saber just over a year to complete the game. The gameplay was to remain unchanged, while the visuals would be updated along with added features like campaign skulls. Iones recalled that experimentation with the game was limited—redoing keyframed character animations was off-limits because redoing them could introduce gameplay bugs, and design choices like game balance had already been determined. Development began under the codename Spark. Saber decided not to recreate the gameplay using their Saber game engine as it would prove difficult to precisely replicate the original game. Another option considered was to port the PC version of the game to the Xbox 360 and add features, but this would have imposed serious constraints of the visual makeover possible. Instead, they decided to pair the two game engines—information from the Combat Evolved engine was transferred to the Saber engine, meaning that the game's original programming remained unchanged. To make the original Halo: Combat Evolved look and feel like a greatly-enhanced game, 343 used the Halo: Combat Evolved and Saber3d engines for the campaign and Halo: Reach's engine for multiplayer. The game's ability to alternate between the legacy and remastered graphics engines in the campaign was made possible by the rendering engine developed by Saber Interactive. The technology allowed the developers to both update Halo: Combat Evolved's visuals and preserve the original gameplay at the same time. Since the ability to switch between classic version and remastered version was provided to players, both engines were designed to work simultaneously to retain the spontaneity of game. Because of their previous contributions to the series - the Blastacular and Defiant map packs - Certain Affinity was approached by 343 Industries to streamline the multiplayer maps to take Halo: Reach's gameplay options into account. The campaign runs on the original engine with the help of Saber3d, whereas multiplayer is powered by the Halo: Reach's engine which was worked on by Certain Affinity. Since 343 developed Halo 4 concurrently with the Anniversary edition, they decided to use Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary to link the original trilogy's story with the Reclaimer trilogy's, using game mechanics similar to Halo 3: ODST's terminals and data pads; extra backstory is also included, with Guilty Spark as the subject. Audio While the visuals received an overhaul for Anniversary, Senior Audio Director Kristopher Mellroth worked on the sound. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary retains some of the original audio from Halo: Combat Evolved, though it is remastered to sound clearer, allowing it to work seamlessly in 5.1 surround sound. For this HD remake of the soundtrack, 343 partnered with Pyramind Studios to remake the original game soundtrack, using the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra and the Chanticleer vocal ensemble. All non-vocal audio for the game was re-recorded by Skywalker Sound. The soundtrack had both a normal CD release and a vinyl release limited to 5000 copies. Thirty-nine tracks are featured on two discs and most of the song titles are derived from the song titles of the Halo: Combat Evolved soundtrack. Marketing Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary's trailer was released on June 6, 2011, at E3 which was later followed up with the teaser trailer for Halo 4. A 343 Industries video documentary was released shortly after the unveiling of the Halo 4 teaser, which contained some extra footage and additional information on anniversary edition. Those who pre-ordered the game would receive a code to download John-117's Mark V MJOLNIR armor for their avatars. Pre-ordering the game also gave access to the Grunt Funeral skull, which causes Unggoy to explode like plasma grenades when killed. During the Halo Universe panel at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, a short trailer showcasing the animation used in the terminals with a narration by 04-343 Guilty Spark was shown to the fans. Microsoft launched Halo Living Monument campaign consisting of a live-action short and video and Halolivingmonument.com website to celebrate the ten years of completion of original Halo. Website was activated on November 13, 2011, for the players and fans. Among the tie-ups for the marketing, Pizza Hut ran a Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary promotion in the United Kingdom from November 7 to December 19, 2011, during which anyone who ordered a Halo pizza received two free days of Xbox Live Gold membership. Reception Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary received generally positive reviews. With the launch of first beta versions of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, many critics praised the overall gaming performance which it brought compare to classic version. The Inquirer praised the graphics and the use of 3D saying, "Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is a must have for Halo fans and if you never played the original then this is a great way of playing a classic title as it was and re-mastered." Halo: CEA was released worldwide on November 15, 2011, and was universally acclaimed by critics and gaming community. It currently holds a rating of 82 out of 100 on Metacritic, a game reviewing website. The Guardian gave the positive comment by saying, "It's a mighty fine game – for my money, the best in the Halo franchise – that deserves to accumulate a cult following. Microsoft should be applauded for having the balls (and the money) to exhume it in such a magnificent manner." Steven Hopper of IGN gave a slightly mixed review although giving a good score overall and praising the game for its graphics, saying "If you can approach the experience with an open mind and are willing to take a few frustrating old-school design choices, and you're fine with a "best of" map pack versus a full redo, then this is a great way to bide the time before Halo 4." Links *"Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Review". Eurogamer. *"Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary review". Edge. *"Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Review". IGN. *"Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Review". Official Xbox Magazine UK. *"Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary – review". The Guardian. *Halo: Anniversary at Xbox.com Category:2011 video games Category:Most Wanted Games